Googe Apps for Education: "The Catch"

As a recent Mashable article notes, more and more schools (and school boards) are turning to Google Apps, and saving -- in some cases -- tens of thousands of dollars by doing so. Google offers a lot of great Web 2.0 stuff, but Henry Thiele, IT director for Education District 207 in Oregon may be a little off the mark when he says that “There is no catch.”

Potential problems in making Google your suite for all apps in an educational setting range from potential informational privacy issues to lack of cloud-based computing data control & backup. Then there's the ethical issue of forcing staff and students to use a service that data mines all of their everything, and mandating that they be subjected to targeted advertising.

Many people (myself included) happily & willingly use a lot of Google services, but not all do so from an informed perspective; I hope that the teachers and learners in mandated "Google School Districts" are informed.

What Thiele (and everyone) needs to know is that "the catch" is a trade-off between costly software licenses and privacy/security. I'm not saying that Google Apps should not be used, but rather that all users should be aware of what Google is doing with their information before they use the Apps. Schools & boards need to teach the big picture, and carefully consider the catch, before they mandate use of Google apps for all students & staff.